Givenchy Haute Couture Proves Lighter Than Air

How’s this for an interesting juxtaposition? While Karl Lagerfeld took eager viewers on a tour of Chanel’s dark side with Les Allures de Chanel, a romantically noir homage to Coco inspired by shadows and moonlight; across town Riccardo Tisci unveiled Givenchy’s ten piece offering for Couture Week, an extremely advanced exploration of haute couture techniques inspired by birds of paradise, clouds and angels. Though nowhere near as prolific as Lagerfeld’s most recent collection, what Tisci lacked in numbers he more than made up for in fastidious attention to detail.

It has already been said that Tisci’s past explorations of couture have bordered on the fetishistic and this most recent offering is no different. The ten floor length dresses presented at the Hotel d’Evreux on Place Vendome featured tulle with painstakingly intricate seam-work adorned with lace, fringe, beads and pailettes. Separated into three rooms to reflect the three sources of inspiration the collection dared viewers to progress from one level of amazing intricacy to the next. From an off-white silk dress covered in a gentle, organic gradation of pailettes designed to resemble the scales of a fish (reminiscent of Mr. Tisci’s graduation collection from Central Saint Martins) to a white sleeveless tulle dress with caviar beading which featured a bird of paradise made from interwoven metallic threads; every piece in the collection spoke to the laborious haute couture techniques required to create such delicate fashion.

Couture Week in Paris has barely reached its mid-point and already two hauntingly beautiful collections from two obsessively dedicated designers are vying for the attentions of the fashion world’s elite. What is perhaps even more exciting though is the diametrically opposed nature of these two collections should have everyone wondering what sort of battles between the light and the darkness loom on the horizon for fall and winter fashion.